Awkward White Girl Yoga Trance Dancing

So, I tried out the first part of Shiva Rea’s Yoga Trance Dance last night. Let’s just say it was more “awkward white girl with no rhythm dancing” for me! If I had better balance (one of the effects of my cerebral palsy is difficulty with balance when standing), it would probably be really fun, but for me it was more of sensation of joy mixed with nervousness: one part of my brain was going ‘don’t fall down, don’t fall down’ for almost the entire 30 minutes. Have you seen those joke Zumba memes with Jim Carrey? That was how I felt.

And this was just the basic “introduction to trance dance” flow, which opens with some fluid stretching and then alternates between sections of free-form dancing and shorter sequences of mat work. In particular, the twisting kriya section is comprised of these big, sweeping movements, where you twist your torso and circle your arms around your body.

Which is not to say this isn’t a great DVD. It’s gorgeously choreographed and filmed at White Sands National Park, a landscape so beautiful it doesn’t seem real. Plus, you really work up a sweat (that could have just been me, though!). If I get brave, I might try out some of the other sequences.